A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tagame (Part 4)

Part 4 – The Artistry of Tagame

In this final part of my review of Tagame's work I want to pick out some pictures by him that I particularly like.

 

Tagame - Student Ohashi from 'Pride', Vol 1

'Pride' contains some of Tagame's best drawing and story-telling and this image depicts Ohashi, the handsome but selfish college student who is destined to fall under the control of one of his Professors. In this drawing, Tagame beautifully captures the young man's youthful arrogance and charisma – and his vulnerability too.

 

Tagame - Ohashi Performs in a Telephone Box (from Pride, Vol 1)

This is one of the highlights of Ohashi's early 'apprenticeship'. His dick has been locked in a chastity cage for weeks and is going crazy with sexual frustration. In order to obtain the combination that will release his dick, he has to go to public telephone box and do what the Professor tells him over the phone – which is to strip naked and use a dildo on himself. I've never quite understood Japanese artists' obsession with dildos and vibrators, it seems to be one of those cultural things, but I do love the phone handset cradled under the student's chin in this picture, it's an authentic little detail that completely explains what is going on – even to someone who has never known the old-style phone boxes.

Tagame produces a gloriously muscular and hairy physique for the young man although it isn't quite what you'd expect of a student. In this picture he has finally been given the information to remove the cage and you get real sense of his pent-up passion. In a significant act of submission, he continues to obey the Professor's commands after release. Unfortunately his mentor has alerted a policeman to 'discover' his indecent performance and arrest him.

.

Tagame - Ohashi Spanked in Pride Vol 3

Spanking is not common in Tagame's stories and where it does occur, the scenes are often fleeting and depicted as close-up details of buttocks with impact symbols*. This is the only 'full view' example I have found. Tagame seems to use spanking a man as a short, sharp, painful punishment, rather than a way of humiliating him like a child. It's surprising considering how much he uses humiliation techniques, I don't know whether the reason is cultural or personal taste. Whatever the case, this good, old fashioned OTK spanking, is a good picture and once again it's from 'Pride'. It fits neatly into this story of a Student drawn into an increasingly dependant relationship with the Professor who becomes his S&M mentor.

Essentially the 'Pride' story is a variation on the universal theme of 'self-loathing becomes self-discovery' which is an indispensable, justifying ingredient in S&M porn of course. To coin a phrase, “You like that don't you?” (no response required, so don't worry about the gag). However, that's not to mock Tagame's working of the theme which is masterly. What makes 'Pride' so fascinating is the extended 'grooming' of the student through an inventive series of increasingly humiliating and painful tests and trials. The Professor exploits the student's attraction to him and uses manipulative, psychological techniques to keep him coming back for more. I'm not sure it's very scientific – or very nice, but it's an arresting read.

*Incidentally, gags seem to be totally absent!

 

Tagame  - The Lovers Kiss in 'Sensei '

This invocation of love from 'Sensei' is challenging taboos in a quite different area. There's a pleasing Yin-Yang flavour about the coupling and the contrasting characterisation of the two lovers. Despite their nudity, it's pretty non-explicit which allows the romantic attraction to surface and it is no less erotic for that. The swirling background patterning conveys the dreamy intensity of it all, an effect which is amplified by the lack of body boundary lines on the left as though emotions and body are one. This could easily be an unintended by-product of editing in the background, but it's a fortuitous one. Very nice.

 Tagame - Funayama Handcuffed (from 'The Trophy')

Back to business with a scene from 'The Trophy' where Officer Funayama (fresh from a whipping) is being readied for the electro-torture which I showed in Part 2. I have spoken of my preference for uncomplicated bondage before and this certainly meets that specification. It's actually quite hard to depict handcuffs realistically in drawings because they are not bulky objects and the real thing is quite unobtrusive when it's being worn, but this rendering works well. The sound-effects don't get in the way too much and are quite helpful in interpreting the captive's otherwise ambiguous expression. The discontinuous background pattern suggests his intense emotion and agitation. As in the previous picture, Tagame's use of this technique adds powerful layers of meaning to his imagery and shines through when the images are detached from their natural comic book habitat.

Tagame - Ginjiro's Itching (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

I have devoted a substantial part of this review to 'Pride' but I also should mention 'Shirogane no Hana' (The Silver Flower) which is considered by many to be Tagame's masterpiece. It's another 3-Volume work and I have never seen a full translation, but it concerns Ginjiro, a professional man sold into prostitution to pay his debts. In this scene his ass has been lubricated with a potion containing irritants and the only way he can scratch it is to use the dildo attached to his heel. This fiendish torment greatly intrigued me when I first came across it, not least for the way it manipulates a proud, virile man and the embarrassing contortions the trick forces him to perform. I believe there is a classic female illustration involving the same device, by using it Tagame is accentuating the man's humiliation.

Tagame - Ginjiro Recaptured (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

The enslaved man manages to escape and is sheltered by his fiancée, but he is betrayed, recaptured and returned to his master, who in this scene ponders how to punish him. No prizes for guessing what the cigarette is for, but that's just the start! The wealthy, cultured, degenerate villain is something of a cliché but his casual power over the virile Ginjiro is still delicious. 

There is something about suspension of a captive, like meat on a rack, that adds an extra dimension of threat and vulnerability and his futile struggling betrays his fear after a brief taste of freedom and normality. Tagame has taken the trouble to get the captive's marvellous, chunky physique looking right and you can almost feel his body straining against the tight, creaking ropes. The uncomplicated composition mitigates the confusion introduced by upside-down imagery.

Tagame - Ginjiro Hard at Work (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

The brothel master's clothing in the previous picture reflects the historical setting used for the story. Tagame also references traditional Japanese customs and social graces in it and at one point dresses the reluctant prostitute as a Geisha.

 This is a double-edged humiliation that not only questions his masculinity (it's not so long ago that dressing as a woman was equally despised in the West) – it also mocks his inadequate, male coarseness compared to famously cultured and refined Geisha women. It spells out the lowly position he now occupies, inferior to both men and women and this image shows him hard at work in that role.

(another dildo, somewhat ambiguous in character)

Also in evidence here is the lesser known custom of tattooing genitals. It has been carried out on Ginjiro as another (permanent this time) feminising humiliation. Indeed the tattoo, chosen at random by him - a flower attracting butterflies - is both feminine and subtly erotic . The flower (symbolically a source of pollen) is tattooed on the head of his penis and it is from this that the name of the story derives.

Tagame - Sterilising the Tattoo (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 2)

The selection of the tattoo and it's application forms an extended passage in the 'Shirogana' story and is very erotic. Ginjiro does not realise fully what is happening until he is tied down completely helpless and had his penis and balls tightly bound up, so that they stay plump and firm for the painting on of the design and the actual needle work. Being Tagame, it's not enough to simply dress the tattoo wound afterwards, instead it is sterilised in a steaming bath via a spectacular - and very painful – crab style suspension (above).

Tagame -  Ginjiro Fitted with Bells (from 'Shirogane no Hana' Vol 3)

This image takes the feminising embellishment a step further as Ginjiro discovers he has now been fitted with little bells which tinkle as he moves. I'm unsure of the cultural background to this but the humiliation of being subjected to such attachments is self-evident. In the West bells like this relate to childhood, merriment and clowning. Tagame uses penis bells in other stories to betray the involuntary arousal of the victims as they are being abused and to draw attention to them in public places. This scene is low key by comparison, but a sweet example of the casual exercise of control, calculated to degrade and dismay the victim.

Tagame - Medical Restraint and Operation

I have a weakness for Medical scenarios. The Doctor-Patient power relationship and the S&M-like procedures involved in surgery give great scope for bondage fantasy (and I explored this in my own 'S&M Clinic' story). I have no idea what story if any this image comes from and the procedure it depicts looks decidedly fanciful, but the terror of the strapped-down patient in the face of multiple invasion by faceless attendants is compelling. Compare with Rex's slightly more authentic treatment of the subject.

(Also click on the 'medical' label below for more medical bondage)

Tagame - Undergoing Treatment (from Kranke)

It seems fitting to conclude this ramble through Tagame's work with a blockbuster moment, also on a medical theme, from 'Kranke'. This story has none of the subtlety of Pride or the humanity of 'SIPOW'. Simply, a young jogger is abducted following a faked road accident and deliberately incapacitated by surgery while he is unconscious. He is then subjected to a series of drugs and pseudo-medical procedures designed to reduce him to a mindless puppet, capable only of sex.

Tagame crams in every imaginable pseudo-medical, body-invasive torture along the way (perhaps a little too many to really take in properly). The spectacular climax for the 'patient' (above) is a 10 hour ordeal alone with the painful body attachments and machines which continuously medicate, arouse and drain him. His torment does not end there, three months later even his teeth have been removed and he is facing the amputation of all his limbs. The villain's motivation in all this is a mystery, but he does not simply carry out his fiendish plan, he takes the trouble to explain it to the victim, who it seems has been chosen entirely at random, in fact he looks the picture of bemused innocence.

This bleak storyline is not unique in Tagame's output, none of them make for easy reading and yet they have a elemental fascination that is both puzzling and disturbing. The wreaking of terrible revenge for great injustice suffered is not unknown in Japanese art, (the film 'Confessions' is a recent example) and the custom of Hara-Kiri has similar roots in cultural norms relating to offence, shame and honour. So while it's tempting to equate these stories to Hollywood Horror films involving the random, mass slaughter of teenagers (films, by the way, whose obvious, sexual sub-text is apparently invisible to the porn censorship lobby), it's probably reasonable to assume that a Japanese reader of Tagame's story will infer the existence of a significant (if unexplained) motivation.

I see in this piece a revenge which springs from a deep anger at a terrible injustice. Many of us will empathise with that to some degree. If the revenge here mirrors the original offence, we see a young, undeserving victim, the paralysis of his free will, an unidentified but heartless oppressor, randomly inflicted pain, control of sexuality, gradual destruction of identity. I leave it to you to imagine the injustice I have in mind, perhaps each of us would choose a different one, maybe that is the beauty and point of the piece.

The size of this article is testament to my regard for this artist but I have hardly scratched the surface of Tagame's work. I'm not totally familiar with his recent stuff so there may be some significant omissions. Even so there are many more amazing images that are just too subversive to share in this blog. His inventive and thoughtful approach to S&M is probably unparalleled today so it is a real shame that there are so many obstacles to enjoying his work.

His choice of character types is wide, from very young to very mature, but he really seems to come into his own when drawing chunky, muscular, hairy, 30-ish men with luxuriant moustaches and eyebrows – not everyone's cup of tea perhaps and a tad out of fashion right now.

Tagame's uncompromising challenging of taboos will probably test most of us too at some point. I can only say that any fetish art enthusiast owes it to himself to explore Tagame's work and dig into the stories beyond the isolated images like those in this article. Don't be put off by the stuff you don't like, just pass it by, you won't be disappointed.

See more of his work at Tagame's website

Some his stories are available, in English, in book form at sites like Amazon.

This is the natural way to enjoy his work and it's not terribly expensive. 

Earlier parts of this article;- Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

 

For previous articles in this 'mitchmen' series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tagame (Part 3)

Part 3 - Taboos and Secrets

Tagame's comic book style gives him scope to explore the psychology of his characters and his work is full of men with secrets and illicit desires ready to be used against them, like the runaway gangster in 'Kodama' who is trapped by his rescuer (see Part 1).

 Panty Fetishist caught out in Tagame's 'Maso'

In 'Maso' there is a young man who not only has a fetish for women's underpants, but also gets a kick out of trying them on at night in the aisle of the local 24-7 store. Unfortunately his activity is spotted by the checkout operator. 

 

Bullies at Work in Tagame's 'Maso'

Rather than calling the police and exposing the panty boy to public humiliation, the checkout operator decides to bring in two buddies. They strip the fetishist and put him through a series of painful trials utilising commonplace items on sale in the store.

(The characterisation of the bullies in this image is very Yaoi-like especially the spiky-faced character in the centre.)

Beating Scene from 'Maso'

The bullies degradations include shaving the victim, pissing on him and inserting objects into his backside. This torment is briefly interrupted by a fierce belt beating (above) whose intensity Tagame simulates with frightening success using impact patterning and a blurred effect to convey the violence of the attack and the confusion of the victim. It makes Bound Gods seem quite tame!

There's too much sexual involvement by the attackers for this little sketch of homophobic bullying to be truly lifelike but their cruelty and contempt are all too believable. However, at the very end it transpires that the whole thing is a set-up and the victim has actually enjoyed it, regretting only that his assailants declined to fuck him. In the final frame of the story, the chief 'bully' turns out to be his (controlling) boyfriend. This last minute 'sanitisation' doesn't really neutralise the abuse but merely slants it in a different direction.

Tagame's clever choice of a much-derided, feminising fetish, (a minority group within a minority group), allows him to lure readers who see themselves as 'normal' into the bullies camp. Obviously, it's not meant to be a morality story and he lets their consciences off the hook at the very end, but it gives some insight into the thoughtfulness of his story telling.

The writing of this story features two stylistic devices which are often used by Tagame. The surprise ending (or reveal) closes the story with a satisfying(?) twist that causes the reader to backtrack and look for the 'evidence' he missed (like the fact that the victim appears to have donned the panties without removing his trousers). The other sophisticated feature is some selective time shifting back and forth, which he uses to disguise the true motivation of characters. This trick enhances the quality of his story telling, but unfortunately makes his stories even harder to decipher without a decent translation. 

 Associating homosexuality with being female seems to be as common in Japan as it is elsewhere in the world, but Tagame says the negative connotations are an importation from the West and sets out to prove it in 'Inaka Isha'.

The Doctor's Ceremonial Shafting from Tagame's 'Inaka Isha'

A gay Doctor recently transferred from a big city hospital to a remote country village strikes up a casual relationship with an agricultural worker. In the respectability of village life, this homosexual affair with a married man transgresses a host of conventional taboos, not least the social gulf between the Doctor's professional status and that of his bit of 'rural rough'. His fear when his secret is discovered turns to shame as he stumbles into further, increasingly sleazy, sexual encounters, threatening his standing in the community. As word of his promiscuity spreads, however, the men of the village, in an unexpected but bizarrely logical outcome, decide to recruit him as their official, collective concubine. In the scene above, the happy villagers sing their traditional wedding song as the Doctor formally accepts the post (so to speak). This somewhat one-sided expression of commitment is freely adapted from the more usual 'ring on finger' tradition - but is rather more embarrassing to perform in front of a large congregation. The Doctor finds this humiliation outweighed by anticipation of pleasures to come.

The ingredients of this humorous story – conventions, taboos, secrets, self discovery and acceptance - mirror the journey of all gay men. Interestingly, even in Tagame's Utopian vision of a non-judgemental, accepting community of simple folk, the Doctor's promiscuity still causes him to be set aside and (in effect) exploited – albeit kindly. Hmmmm.

Looking purely at this artwork, it's a good example of how the comic book 'commentary' (which is simply singing and sound effects) diminishes the impact of what would otherwise be a powerful image. The unfamiliar costumes are an obstacle to westerners too, but I guess that's our problem not Tagame's!

The Husband's Remorse in Tagame's 'Gedo'

Tagame turns the shame of failing to conform back against the straight world in 'Gedo'. This simple image conveys the humiliation of the impotent husband as he grovels naked before the disapproving family and it's a very erotic moment for us as on-lookers. It's easy to take nudity for granted in scenes like this (less so if you reach it via Tagame's scene-setting) but you only have to imagine doing this before your own family to realise how difficult and embarrassing this act of exposure and contrition would be. Transfer to the Orient with it's heightened traditions of position, responsibility and 'face' and you can see how such a punishment would be scarcely less painful than the beating meted out in 'Maso' (above).

 

Loosing face is also the theme of this image although the victim is the last to know about it. I don't have a translation of this story (or it's title even! Help!) but the mature man shown tied and blindfolded appears to be a politician, his long hair perhaps suggesting academic or reforming leanings, a pillar of society in other words. He also has a taste for sadistic young men and here he is being offered up by one to his political colleagues/enemies who gloat over the revelation of his secret and the power it gives them. Thankfully he has a better body than your average politician!

 Kazuma Undressed in Tagame's 'The Trap'

(read frames in normal left to right sequence)

The forcible undressing of this bewildered young man in a scene from 'The Trap' layers fear, uncertainty and power play over the most basic of erotic acts – exposure of the naked body. The multi-frame comic format is ideally suited to depicting progressive disrobing of course, but size restrictions on frames and the need to vary the image lead to a detail-snapshot approach which seems tantalisingly incomplete when viewed at leisure. The ideas in frames 1, 3 and 6 are good enough to form the basis of more substantial images and this tells you how much creativity is consumed by these works. The cartoon-y style creates an ambiguity about the age of the youth. Tagame flirts with this from time to time, but of course it is unwelcome (nay taboo!) these days. I'd prefer an older looking man anyway, which would make his loss of power more compelling - (see next image!).

Tormented Hero in Tagame's 'SIPOW'

If physical coercion plays a major part in Tagame's repertoire (and it's implicit in any bondage scene) he does occasionally depict men who voluntarily submit to abuse for altruistic reasons, like the prisoner in SIPOW (South Island Prisoner of War) who surrenders to the sexual demands of the Camp Commandant in order to obtain medicine for his sick comrade. This hero is one of Tagame's more appealing creations - handsome, muscular, hirsute, positively oozing masculinity – and in his scenes with the sick man - touchingly compassionate. His story is not Tagame's most inventive S&M-wise but does feature some interesting twists.

Enema Test from Tagame's 'Pride' 

(Read the frames from right to left)

 

It seems appropriate to conclude this section on psychological plot ingredients with a reference to pride, which comes before a fall and is quite a different animal to the fear and anxiety which drives many of Tagame's stories. It also happens to be the title of one of Tagame's best works, mentioned previously in Part 1. This page from the story shows the besotted student undergoing an enema cleansing so that he might be fit to receive his master's tool for the first time. Tied up in the lounge of the Professor's luxurious flat, the torment of having to retain the fluid needs little imagining.

In the sanitised world of modern porn, enema waters always run clear. Not in Tagame-land though, where the follow-on, emptying of bowels is depicted in graphic detail. I won't test the mettle of my readers by reproducing that here. The revulsion it usually causes is shared equally by the victim of course and that's exactly why a forced public performance is such a powerful humiliation. The perpetrator and witness is the Professor, who the young student victim looks up to and desperately wishes to please. A more telling chastisement for his sin of pride is hard to imagine. 
 

Tagame uses this device frequently in his stories in order to put his men in their place, but thankfully he doesn't usually pursue the subject in greater depth than I have described. For example, it is this procedure (which I alluded to in Part1) that is inflicted in 'Kodama' on the gangster, without warning, by his rescuer, an otherwise perfect stranger. You can imagine the shock and bewilderment that would follow for a grown man, a hoodlum used to bossing lesser men.

We could debate the validity of Tagame's willingness to shock, he does place his atrocities in a thought out context but I know it must deter many readers from the whole of his work, which is a shame. In the final part of this series I will present some lollipops to sooth the nerves.

See more of his work at Tagame's website

 

Part 4 continues here

The earlier parts of this article are here at Part 1 and Part 2

For previous articles in this 'mitchmen' series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tagame (Part 2)

You can view part one of this article here

Part 2 – The Blockbusters

If you asked an average Tagame fan for his favourite picture, I suspect that many would have some difficulty nominating a specific one, but typically might recall a spectacular, torture scene along the lines of the one above (from 'The Silver Flower'). Tagame uses striking images like this as points of climax and high drama within the story. Close-up views and unusual viewpoints help to make them extremely powerful and dramatic. Yet, paradoxically, while Tagame's canon of work is highly regarded, the individual 'blockbuster' images just don't seem to enjoy the same fame as (for example) Tom's or Etienne's work. Why should this be?

I suppose pictures like this, daring and original in their time, have been overtaken by a decade of adventurous bondage photography which has made them seem rather less exciting. Tagame's treatment of this subject is not particularly sensual or dramatic either. There's no wriggling or escaping going on, just an angry expression on the captive's face, accentuated by his very bushy eyebrows and moustache (which for me quite neutralises any erotic feeling). Tagame's coloured images do often look rather 'staged'. In this particular example we also have an upside-down, human image. Our brains have difficulty decoding these and that infuses the image with a sense of the unexpected and bizarre. It's a useful technique in a comic story but the images don't seem to register in our memories in quite the same way as normal orientations.

There's plenty of facial hair in this image too (from Gedo – House of Brutes) but the tearful face (in contrast to Mr Angry above) amply compensates and I do like the swirling patterns of his body hair. It all suggests this is a very virile man, but in the story he is supposed to be a young husband who is not up to his marital duties. He is mercilessly chastised and given unconventional guidance by his father and family (counter-productive in this form I would have thought!).

This image could easily have been a suspension pose as well, but dumping the captive on the floor helps to emphasise the contempt and humiliation being heaped upon him. The single foot in the corner of the picture, threatening a well-aimed kick, looks a little odd, but feet and shoes are highly symbolic of scorn in many cultures.

Tagame loves chunky, thick-waisted bodies but he gives himself an artistic challenge by trying to fold them up like this. The result is not quite convincing, but this is one of Tagame's images that has 'stuck' with me – that's partly because of knowing the erotic 'mitchmen-esq' background story. It's a reminder that these pictures are from comic book narratives and are not really designed to be viewed on their own. These climactic scenes, seen in isolation contain few pointers to the context and background story and where clues do exist (as in this example) they can be puzzlingly obscure, but that's simply because it is all laid out in preceding frames.

This page from 'The Trophy' makes the point quite well. The final electro-torture image is very dramatic in it's own right, but it works even better with the introductory frames. In fact the first little picture showing electrical 'currents' dancing around the water-soaked captive's neck and body is an impressive, suggestive little detail in it's own right. It's the sort of chopped-off, half-explored idea that makes Tagame's work both tantalising and frustrating at times.

In this page from 'Jujitsu Kyoshi', two striking images have been cropped, reoriented in one case and shoe-horned in together to create an impression of the prolonged and varied punishment of the disgraced Jujitsu Instructor. Tagame knows what he is doing, he wants you to turn the page round and it works fine for the purpose of the comic, but I guess it's not surprising if cropped pictures like these do not get wider recognition. I think the right hand one in particular is excellent. The intensity of the encounter is brilliantly captured in the different expressions on the two men's faces- cold determination vs fearful anticipation. The drawn back whipping arm and the ball-stretching gym weight are superb details.

Notice the use of atmospheric, background patterning in this and the previous image. It's a favourite device of Tagame, not only contributing to the feel of the picture but saving him from having to deal with background areas too small to convey useful detail. More importantly, it seems to reflect an interest in conveying what the victim is experiencing - the searing razzle of the electricity, the surge of cold water, the tingling sting of the whip.

This is part of the finale from 'The Trophy'. The story features Funayama (a policeman and national sports champion, left) who is kidnapped on the orders of a lustful politician and forced to become his plaything (the electro-torture image above captures part of that process). Funayama's police colleague (right) who tries to find him is caught too and shares his fate. Not Tagame's most inventive plot, but the ending is spectacular as the two men end up pitted against each other in a bizarre (if improbable) contest of sexual capability.

This enema retention test produces an amazing picture, but (like the candle picture above) the strange angles, with bodies oriented in almost every direction take a lot of sorting out visually. The non-standard, thick waisted body shapes don't seem to help either. There's no shame in this, bodies lying on the floor are very difficult to render - even in photographs - and particularly if their limbs are not in their usual arrangements. Compare Etienne's hog-tie from Sailor Beware (below)

Etienne - Sailor Beware

As an aside, notice how Etienne's picture is positively stuffed with clues about what's going on. 

In contrast, Tagame's picture does not have any indications that the captives are Police colleagues being groomed for sexual slavery. Nor is it obvious that both men in Tagame's picture have one hand and ankle cuffed together and hoisted in the air – making enema insertion easy and giving the potential for a very sexy pose. Tagame passes on this because the head to tail arrangement of the two men is important for what follows in the story (you work it out!). Mr Angry makes a reappearance here, it seems rather a pompous response to anal insertion, but happily, the young Funayama looks more suitably discomforted.

Whipping (from Takeki Chishio)

Tagame's readiness to depict pretty much any extreme you can imagine is part of his attraction for some and but undoubtedly the reverse for others. His 'historical' stories in particular sometimes feature successions of barbaric tortures and mutilations, even executions, all graphically portrayed. For my money these go beyond the realms of erotica into pure 'horror'. This image (and the 'Wedge' image posted previously) are as far as I want to go in giving examples, suffice to say this is just the opening shot in this man's terminal torment. 

Notice that it's a double whipping and another extremely effective portrayal of a vicious punishment. In this image, the sound and movement 'effects' are more prominent, visually conveying urgency and drama while a bold ray pattern represents the impact and focus on the man's back. Once again, it works perfectly well on the comic page, but taken in isolation is a bit overwhelming.

My final example portrays a less violent torment inflicted on a young man by a gang of blackmailers in 'The Trap'. The preceding frames detail his forcible undressing step by step in a scene you won't have seen replicated in any video. The sequence culminates in this bottom shot to die for - but what a disappointment it is to have prominent speech bubbles blocking the middle part of the image!

The fact is that Tagame is a story-teller. The dialogue drawing out the poor victim's secret desires is clichéd, but it's the main point of this storyline. The exposure of his smooth and rather beautiful young body teases us but is mainly there to represent a sort of purity that is progressively tainted by the gang as they taunt him, humiliate him and then take him - and he discovers that he likes it. So what appears at first to be a familiar 'get-em-off' sex scenario turns out to be a porn-y parable of a young man discovering his true sexuality.

In this part of my article I've tried to show how Tagame's comic book techniques and his focus on story-telling cause his imagery to seem unsatisfying when viewed in isolation. Tagame's stories are the essence of his work and the illustrations are simply the building blocks of them. He doesn't want you to get off on looking at the characters, but by seeing, sharing almost, what happens to them. As I explained in part 1, getting into his stories isn't easy, but they reward the effort, having more depth than you might expect, reflecting the experience, the unfairness, the consequences of growing up gay and that is what I will explore in my next article.

Part 3 continues here

 Meanwhile, I recommend readers to visit Tagame's website

For other articles in this 'mitchmen' series click on the A-Z label below

Update on the Art of Kajlet

 Kajlet - Stun Gun

Kajlet, whose stylised art I first reviewed here in 2012 has just started a new blog called torture graphics. His latest works remind me of the style used by the great Steve Masters. Not for the faint hearted though.

another Kajlet post

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tagame (Part 1)

 Tagame is a modern giant of the fetish genre, he is both provocative and prolific. For the art reviewer, the amount of material is massive, his comic book stories are often huge works running into hundreds of pages with perhaps 6 illustrations per page. I cannot hope to do justice to it all, just give a flavour of that which I admire about him.

The Viking and The Ogre (from Oeyama-Kitan)

Anyone wishing to get to know Tagame's work faces a few obstacles. His stories are written in Japanese and typically contain page after page of scene-setting dialogue which is baffling for the average Westerner. English (and other) translations do exist (see above) but they are often awkward, peppered with strange transatlantic and colloquial expressions and generally lacking the style and subtlety to bring out the true flavours of the original Japanese text. The randomly selected example above illustrates the gulf in language. (Remember to read the pictures from right to left on each line). This Tagame is unexpectedly romantic, but the image shows his graphic skills nicely, there's an intriguing touch of Yaoi style about it too. 

His First Body Harness (from Pride Vol 1)

The sheer scale of his works coupled with the language issues often leads to dismemberment of the stories and circulation of 'best bits' (bleeding chunks, as they say in the classical music field) without any context. Despite these issues, it's worth seeking complete translations out as this allows some context to be applied to the more spectacular images and can reveal otherwise 'hidden' gems in the scene setting, like this episode from 'Pride', where a student discovers that the tight, rope, body harness, (which he has been told to wear under his clothing by his mentor as an initiation test), is not mere decoration, it subsequently hampers everything he does during the day - threatening to expose his secret to his friends. Sadly it seems that the sound-effects defy translation – a bit of creaking rope perhaps? I admire the skilfully drawn faces in these frames.

Cover from Jujitsu Kyoshi

Many of Tagame's principal characters are beguilingly western in appearance, often with chunky builds and prominent black eyebrows and moustache's, they almost look like the stereotypical Latin American macho male. However there is no mistaking the Japanese settings and clothing and his work is full of Japanese cultural references, such as the loin cloth (fundoshi) in the picture above, much of whose cultural (and erotic) significance is probably lost on Westerners. Many of Tagame's coloured 'stand alone' images like this actually belong with specific stories and depict the characters or incidents in a more polished form than is possible within the comic book style.

Exposed Captive from Jujitsu Kyoshi

This splendid picture of a captive tethered outside in freezing weather as a punishment echoes similar images by Okawa (here). Tagame styles his image in the same traditional Japanese fashion. Notice the delicate snow detail on the top of the stake and his hair. The fast flowing, freezing river has already soaked the victim's loincloth and is gradually washing it away - and his modesty with it. It's a subtly-drawn embellishment which gives extra erotic punch. 

 I presume this imagery has it's roots in Japanese lore or literature and I have an idea that this is a punishment normally reserved for servants. However, I lack the knowledge to fully understand the allusion. The picture comes from the volume, 'Jujitsu Kyoshi', a story of an martial arts instructor who offends against family morality and is punished. This scene does not appear in the story itself, but it could do and works as an embellishment for the reader to fantasise about. 

Scene from Kodama (Cabin in the Woods)

The final obstacle to mention, well it's more of an irritation really, is the Japanese censorship code which obscures sexual detail to a greater or lesser extent. I've tried to avoid including them in this article as far as possible. The example above (bottom right frame) at least gives the reader the option of providing his own! Sometimes a speech bubble blocks the offending area completely. As you would expect the artists are skilled at circumventing the restrictions and if you look top right, you will see a very explicit image indeed which has got through in disguised form.

Kodama (which this page comes from) features a gangster on the run. After an initial confrontation, his life is saved by the owner of the Cabin who then offers him a refuge – of sorts! This raunchy scene from the story is actually preceded by a toe-curling humiliation and in the next article I will look at Tagame's challenging content in more detail.

Part 2 continues here

For previous articles in this 'mitchmen' series click on the A-Z label below

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Tank

I'm exaggerating in labelling 'Tank' as a fetish artist but I thought this image complemented nicely the Cowboy picture from Timarcus in the last post plus I also usually like to start each new letter with a 'bonbon' and he certainly meets this criterion.

Tank - Bareback

The situation depicted here is not devoid of S&M overtones - the anxious, rueful expression of the rider, the more determined, knowing look of his companion and the braided cord slung over the shoulder which looks suspiciously like a lariat. There are parallels with the domination theme of the Timarcus picture. However, in this case the story is artfully developed by including a symbol of raw strength and power, the horse (male of course) and the leather accoutrements used to control it. The drawing style is voluptuous and glamorous in a masculine way, it's not a million miles away from  'hyper-realism' of Tom of Finland (who is also included in this group of artists) but it's rather more accomplished in technique. 

 Tom of Finland - Outlaw Roped

 Compare this picture by Tom, which also expresses a power relationship using similar compositional devices. Tom's sherrif's face is equally well depicted and both artists have used the contours of the jeans to insert a more explicit erotic element (as it were). Naturally Tom's is improbably bigger! Interestingly, you can see if you study Tank's picture, that the composition has been 'assembled' from three separate images, another technique shared with Tom.

  

Tank - Barn

 This is a rather unsubtle sequel and not a very good copy but I include it to draw more parallels with Tom of Finland's work. The lounging open-legged position was a favourite pose for him and the covert, guilty, sideways look of the second cowboy passing-by could have been plucked right out of early Tom. I hasten to add that I'm not seeking to characterise Tank as a Tom of Finland copyist, more of a heir and a kindred spirit. Actually it's the confident assertion of gay-ness, which is embodied in both Tank's pictures - especially the second one - that reflects the true essence of Tom's best work and that is far more significant than mere technical similarities.
I think Tom would be proud of this legacy.

 

 Tank - Cowboy

For the avoidance of doubt, Tom never produced a work as thrilling and vital as this, I'm not sure any European artist ever would, for this is the Spirit of America, excitement, achievement and freedom all packaged up in a stunningly beautiful image.

There's a decent selection of  Tank's work at Daddy's here Tank Collection
For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below.
For other cowboy images click on the cowboy label

A-Z of Fetish Artists - Letter 'T'

The Letter 'T' in my survey of fetish artists presents us with two long lasting giants of the genre - Tom of Finland of course, plus Tagame. Then there is Teddy, a shooting star who flared briefly and then disappeared. The truly British character of Tam's work has special appeal to me and introduces a fetish that I don't think I have covered before - punching and fighting. 

The 'others' category includes the notable veteran artist, Titus.

For starters I offer an image exploring the idea of masculine power associated with cowboys.

Tim Marcus - Cowboys

This casually-drawn ink and water-colour drawing image is a very nice, mildly erotic image at first sight. But it's a curious mixture of overt and hidden eroticism, blending the allowable and the taboo in a way that probably dates it fairly precisely for anyone who has a detailed grasp of social mores in the second half of the 20th century. The combination of rear-view nudity with partial, non-classical clothing was an early breakthrough in erotic art, allowing significant sexual flavouring to be added to conventional 'greek statue' nudity. It's amusing that our heterosexual law-makers considered backsides less indecent than cocks at this point, but the lowered jeans shown here would be recognised as much more suggestive than a totally trouserless man. The glimpse of scrotum (a la Luger) takes us into the late 60's at least. The distinctive border suggests to me the magazines of the 70's and 80's.

However, it's the fetish elements of this picture that are most fascinating. The dangling belt and bare bottom unmistakeably signals an intention to spank. That was OK back then. Spanking was a normal part of growing up and it's application to grown men was considered to be no more than a peccadillo, just not to be spoken of. 

Contrast this with the bondage element of the picture. It's not explicitly shown at all, but we all associate cowboys with ropes and lassos, and for those who recognise it, the arms-behind-back pose of the right hand cowboy and the bindings round the post on the opposite side of the picture tell all. 

In fact these two innocuous posts tell a very explicit story indeed if you take the trouble to read the code. Their upright rigidity and close proximity speaks for itself. These cowboys are very excited! One post is bound with rope and the other not. That's easy, but did you notice that the bound one is significantly longer - and that the other cowboy is 'leaning' on it? We now know who is going to do what to whom. I confess I'm not sure of the full significance of the dangerous-looking projecting thorn but it's gonna hurt! (Perhaps it already has done and spanking is the result)

Finally consider the odd little cactus plant, which at the base bears a striking resemblance to a scrotum, an impression enhanced by the absence of spikes. A susceptible viewer might also perceive a curving penis disappearing beneath two other plums, note how the delineating thick shadow creates a sense of perspective. The plant itself is strategically positioned directly between the cowboy's legs - manipulation of 3-dimensional distance is a valuable disguising technique in these illicit images and it creates the visual equivalent of a double-entendre, suggesting both the simple joke of sitting on a cactus and something rather more naughty!

Brokeback Mountain was never like this (unfortunately!)

As hidden eroticism goes this is something of a tour-de-force (click on the label below for other examples). I have another image by this artist but it's just an adaptation of one of Lederman's famous 'cowboy in jockstrap images' (another dating clue). That's all I know about him, but he deserves to be rescued from obscurity by this image.

(Information from readers welcome as always).

For other articles in this series click on the A-Z label below.